Share this review

Credits

Amid the chaos of “Rotworld,” there comes a story of Green and Rot and the love they share.

Branching off from Swamp Thing #13, and giving us a sneak peak at the events that will unfold in #14, Swamp Thing Annual #1 steps into the past, to when the initial signs of the Rot and its arcane connection to the Green began to show. Anton Arcane invites a young student botanist named Alec Holland to his castle hidden deep in the Carpathian Mountains to discover why no green seems to grow there. Shortly after his arrival, Alec stumbles on “the flower,” a lone plant that seems to grow despite all signs that show it is, in fact, dead. Just as the mysteries begin to mount up, enter Abby Arcane and the beginning seeds of a deeper connection between the two that transcends both Green and Rot –– the power of Love. But will it be enough to ensure Swamp Thing and his modest troupe of saviors a victory against their present world shrouded in death?

A more complete understanding of the relationship between Alec Holland and Abby Arcane is attained within the pages of Swamp Thing Annual #1, which serves as a brief lull in the terror that has befallen the earth thus far due to the events of the “Rotworld” saga. Scotts Snyder and Tuft and artist Becky Cloonan serve up a delightful account of this first meeting of these two allies of opposing forces, which is evocative in both dialogue and artwork to Nathaniel Hawthorne’s short story “Rappaccini’s Daughter” –– a tale of an unknowing young man who falls in love with the daughter of a mad scientist who harbors a deadly secret within her. After a calm in the fight to defeat the Rot, “The Hidden” cuts an invigorating new path that’ll lead to an all-out battle in Swamp Thing #14, out this week.